Gell, William: The geography and antiquities of Ithaca (London, 1807)

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fountain, so it is necessary that a cavern should befound in
its vicinity, and this seems to coincide, in distance and situ-
ation, with that of the poem. Near the fount also was the
fold or stathmos of Eumeeus,1 for the goddess informs
Ulysses that he should find his faithful servant at or above
the fount.

Now the hero meets the swineherd close to the fold,
which was consequently very near that source. At the top
of the rock, and just above the spot where the waterfall
shoots down the precipice, is at this day a stagni or pasto-
ral dwelling, which the herdsmen of Ithaca still inhabit, on
account of the water necessary for their cattle. One of
these people walked on the verge of the precipice at the
time of our visit to the place, and seemed so anxious to
know how we had been conveyed to the spot, that his en-
quiries reminded us of a question probably not uncommon
in the days of Homer, who more than once represents the
Ithacences demanding of strangers what ship had brought
them to the island, it being evident they could not come on
foot. He told us that there was, on the summit where he

1 Od. 15.